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The terrorism threat has gained major significance over the course of the past months in Cameroon, emerging as one of the most actual and dangerous problems, which requires immediate tackling.
Despite its rising importance, Cameroonian authorities still pay more attention to political intrigues than to actual problem solving and coping with the terrorist threat.
According to the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Boko Haram jihadists, present in the Lake Chad Basin, are ramping up their activity in Cameroon. Boko Haram has continued to increase its presence in Cameroon, targeting the North, Far North, West, Adamawa, and Northwest regions.
Jihadists often infiltrate civilian populations, pretending to be refugees escaping neighbouring countries, primarily Nigeria and Chad. Boko Haram and its former ally, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), are targeting both civilian and military facilities in Cameroon, facing almost no pressure from Cameroonian national security forces, whose role has narrowed more to a tool of political influence between elites.
However, there is more than a single terrorist threat in Cameroon that makes the country even more unstable. It is also still divided because of the Anglophone crisis. A movement for the separation of Ambazonia remains influential and results in active guerrilla warfare that threatens Cameroon’s stability.
Clashes between separatists and national armed forces are full of cruelty. Ongoing violence has led to widely reported human rights abuses by both sides, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians, torture, rape and other gender-based crimes, unjustified detentions, and kidnappings, and has led to a prominent rise of the terrorist threat for the population.
One of the new challenges that amplifies conflicts in Cameroon is the modernization of warfare. New weapons and systems that are flooding African markets, as well as covert tactics emerging from combat experience, which more and more Africans are receiving, only threaten to deteriorate the situation further.
The most popular and almost the deadliest tools that have become common are UAVs. Terrorist usage of UAVs is widely seen as one of the most challenging threats to the future security of Cameroon and its regional neighbours.
The Cameroonian Gendarmerie’s reports only underline the significance of the rising terrorist threat. Underdevelopment of national security and inattention from authorities, who are paying attention mainly to the succession theme, make Cameroon prone to more danger. Therefore, if unanswered, terrorism may challenge the very foundations of the Cameroonian state.
– Peter Johnson
A researcher specializing in African affairs
